http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog Brought to you by the Texarkana Gazette. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:33:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I was scouting some roads last weekend with some friends for an event scheduled for next summer. We were evaluating roads for smoothness and for the fun factor. We had several routes to get from waypoint to waypoint and were looking for the most fun ride. As I looked at the ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/11/20/the-road-from-california/ My first bike was a little, 250cc Honda Nighthawk I bought new from the dealership. Soon after I got it home, I discovered it was hard to get into neutral while the engine was running. It would just jump over neutral going from first to second, or second to first. ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/11/13/its-a-feature-not-a-bug/ I went to my first swap meet Sunday. A friend had a spot and offered to let me take a jacket I'd bought before losing 75 pounds. I didn't sell the jacket, and my friend didn't make much, if any, money. But it was good experience anyway. I didn't see ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/11/11/swap-meet/ In general, you can find almost any design of motorcycle your imagination can come up with. I've done blogs about bikes with big radial engines, electric engines and even one with a jet engine (technically a gas turbine engine). But these were all unique, hand-made machines with limited production. None ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/11/04/dirty-riding/ Somebody posted this link on one of the forums I belong to. Click here to take test. It's from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and is about rider perception. It's a test to see how well you, as a rider, perceive the conditions shown to you in a scene. It was educational for ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/10/29/rider-perception/ I'm back from vacation finally. Back in January, when my wife locked in her vacation schedule for the year, we'd planned the great American motorcycle vacation. We took two weeks in a row and planned a long ride to the West Coast, or East. Maybe we'd just head south, or ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/10/22/the-great-motorcycle-vacation-of-2009/ Almost twice as many military personnel died in motorcycle wrecks in the fiscal year ending Sept. 1, 2008, as in the previous year. The number was 124, up from 72. The sad story of a brave soldier surviving a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, only to die in a motorcycle ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/10/01/military-motorcycle-deaths/ I ran across a YOUTUBE video about a jet-powered motorcycle. It's the Y2K super bike. This thing has the Rolls Royce-Allison gas turbine engine out of a Bell Ranger helicopter, producing more than 320 horsepower. It's a production bike made by the south Louisiana company MTT. One proud Y2K owner is ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/09/24/true-crotch-rockets/ Friends were badgering me to get up early Sunday morning and take a ride. They wanted to make a run up to Queen Wilhelmina Lodge. The first problem is that I would have to be back in town by 5. That means we'd have to leave no later than ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/09/21/running-around-the-rain/ I weenied out of going to the Hot Springs Rally last weekend. I'd said I was going, even if it rained. But I was thinking of a few showers on the way up or back, not a deluge lasting the whole trip. Adding to the deteriorating weather was my wife's ... http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/09/16/rain-rain-go-away/